A meeting was held on the e-waste management project in the city under the International Finance Corporation-European Union (IFC-EU) Eco-Cities Programme under the chairmanship of the BMC Commissioner on Friday.
A consortium of Sofies Sustainability leaders Pvt. ltd and Siddha Development Research and Consultancy (SDRC) Pvt ltd has been selected as the implementation partners by the IFC for the project. Sofies and SDRC will bring together complementary skills and expertise into the project implementation.
With deep domain knowledge of over 13 years and experience on e-waste in India and internationally, Sofies, a Bangaluru-based firm and Siddha Development Research and Consultancy Pvt ltd for its local presence and strong networks in the city would be leading the activities on e-waste management as it has become a growing concern throughout the globe. United, both have got technical research capabilities and actual on-ground implementation experience with respect to e-waste management and would carry forward the things as mandated under the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016, by the Government of India.
It was stressed that the project must aim to establish a sustainable e-waste management ecosystem in Bhubaneswar. This initiative will establish a mechanism of collection and storage of e-waste for future processing and dismantling so that the same will continue for the coming years. However, an actionable implementation plan, including awareness generation, will be prominently in place before September, after it starts in June.
It was also discussed to take the help of local leading agencies and dismantlers, regulatory authorities like the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB), Government departments, industries associations and identifying others associated in this sector, so that a proper coordination would be established between the key partners at an early stage. While workshops, sourcing of knowledge resources, toolkits and other learning materials and getting tips from experiences by IFC from cities like Hyderabad would be integrated into the action, a robust e-waste collection network, proper infrastructure backing, alternatives for citizens to dispose e-wastes thus ensuring a formal collection mechanism would be in place as the city is growing rapidly with the progress of several digital initiatives, nationwide and its seen urban growth potential.
As awareness on e-waste holds the prime key for the success of the e-waste management mechanism in the city, a timeline was also discussed to put a proper framework in place.
It was discussed that the system will integrate the informal sector, comprising the traditional “kabadiwallas’’, without hampering their livelihood so that the system would run smoothly.